How to Think Like a Philosopher: Scholars, Dreamers and Sages Who Can Teach Us How to Live(How To Think)

In showing how the great philosophers of human history lived and thought – and what they thought about – Peter Cave provides an accessible and enjoyable introduction to thinking philosophically and how it can change our everyday lives. With a lightness of touch, he addresses questions such as: Is there anything ‘out there’ that gives meaning to our lives? Does reality tell us how we ought to live? What indeed is reality and what is appearance – and how can we tell the difference? This book paints vivid portraits of an assortment of inspiring thinkers: from Lao Tzu to Avicenna to Iris Murdoch; from Hannah Arendt to Socrates and Plato to Karl Marx; from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to Sartre to Samuel Beckett – and let us not forget Lewis Carroll for some thought-provoking fantasies and Ludwig Wittgenstein for the anguishes of a genius. As well as displaying optimists and pessimists, believers and non-believers, the book displays relevance to current affairs, from free speech to abortion to the treatment of animals to our leaders’ moral character. In each brief chapter, Cave brings to life these often prescient, always compelling philosophical thinkers, showing how their ways of approaching the world grew out of their own lives and times and how we may make valuable use of their insights today. Now, more than ever, we need to understand how to live, and how to understand the world around us. This is the perfect guide.

Table of Contents:
Prologue 1 Lao Tzu: The Way to Tao 2 Sappho: Lover 3 Zeno of Elea: Tortoise Backer and Parmenidean Helper 4 Gadfly: aka ‘Socrates’ 5 Plato: Charioteer, Magnificent Footnote Inspirer – ‘Nobody Does It Better’ 6 Aristotle: Earth-Bound, Walking 7 Epicurus: Gardener, Curing the Soul, Ably Assisted by Lucretius 8 Avicenna: Flying Man, Unifier 9 Descartes: With Princess, With Queen 10 Spinoza: God-Intoxicated Atheist 11 Leibniz: Monad Man 12 Bishop Berkeley, ‘That Paradoxical Irishman’: Immaterialist, Tar-Water Advocate 13 David Hume: The Great Infidel or Le Bon David 14 Kant: Duty Calls, Categorically 15 Schopenhauer: Pessimism With Flute 16 John Stuart Mill: Utility Man, With Harriet, Soul-Mate 17 Søren Kierkegaard: Who? 18 Karl Marx: Hegelian, Freedom-Fighter 19 Lewis Carroll: Curiouser and Curiouser 20 Nietzsche: God-Slaying Jester, Trans-Valuer 21 Bertrand Russell: Radical, Aristocrat 22 G. E. Moore: Common-Sense Defender, Bloomsbury’s Sage 23 Heidegger: Hyphenater 24 Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialist, Novelist, French 25 Simone Weil: Refuser and Would-Be Rescuer 26 Simone de Beauvoir: Situated, Protester, Feminist 27 Ludwig Wittgenstein: Therapist 28 Hannah Arendt: Controversialist, Journalist? 29 Iris Murdoch: Attender 30 Samuel Beckett: Not I Epilogue Dates of the Philosophers Notes, References and Readings Acknowledgements In Memory Name Index Subject Index

About the Author :
Peter Cave is a popular philosophy writer and speaker. He read philosophy at University College London and King's College Cambridge and has held lectureships in philosophy at University College London, University of Khartoum, Sudan, and City University London. Peter is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Honorary Member of Population Matters, former member of the Council of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and Chair of Humanist Philosophers – and is a Patron of Humanists UK. Peter has scripted and presented BBC radio philosophy programmes – from a series on the Paradox Fair to more serious ones on John Stuart Mill. He is the author of Philosophy: A Beginner’s Guide, Ethics: A Beginner’s Guide and The Big Think Book: Discover Philosophy through 99 Perplexities.

Review :
A very enjoyable introduction into Western philosophy. Light, conversational, entertaining and intellectually stimulating. Chummy, amusing little book…witty…This is a light but thoughtful book. Overall, [Peter] gives a sense of how vital, rich and multifaceted philosophy is. This is an ideal guide to philosophical thinking; it does not try to reduce the views of those that it covers to bullet points, but instead engages with them in a thoughtful and witty way. Peter Cave is the perfect companion for a bright but leisurely walk through these labyrinths. Britain's wittiest philosopher. Here is an extraordinary philosophical journey taking us through a maze of thinkers. For all those seeking to understand the myriad modes of philosophical thinking—ancient and modern—this is the perfect introduction. Peter Cave introduces the reader to thirty different thinkers. Not all are easily classified as academic philosophers: some are better thought of as sages or poets or playwrights. But each has something important to say about things that matter: rationality, science, sex, and duty, among other topics. Cave’s approach is to introduce each thinker through their chosen questions. From Sappho to Wittgenstein, from Arendt to Spinoza, we are able to enter into a chosen figure’s preoccupations and enjoyably think along. This is a much more effective and engaging approach than simple intellectual biography or summaries of key ideas. An absorbing and rewarding book. Peter Cave introduces his top thirty thinkers with wit and clarity, and crams a surprising amount of judicious reflection into each of the short chapters. Read this book. You may not learn to love like Sappho, cure like Avicenna, ponder like Spinoza, disguise yourself like Kierkegaard or rival any of the other fascinating eccentrics who fill the volume. But if you learn to think like Peter Cave – with freshness, humour, objectivity and penetration – you will have been amply rewarded.